Looking Back at the 2026 Softball Season

CARLINVILLE, IL – Blackburn College Athletics continues their look back at the 2025-26 softball season.

The 2026 softball season saw the team set a new program record with 22 wins as they made a second straight appearance in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals.

Senior Caroline Gibson received First Team All-SLIAC Honors for the second time while junior Kenadee Frey and senior Shelby Koenig was named to the Second Team.

Frey ended up leading the team with a .380 batting average and finished the year with 54 hits, 42 runs batted in, 13 doubles, a triple, and seven home runs. She now has a school record for 21 career home runs. Her hits and doubles put her fifth in the league while her seven home runs put her second.

Gibson added 40 hits along with 19 RBI's and 10 doubles, finishing the year batting .360.

Koenig posted a 2.92 earned run average as the team's top pitcher, throwing 105.1 innings with 13 starts and 27 appearances. She finished with 105 strikeouts. She finished the year ranked second in ERA and strikeouts and leaves BC with a record 322 career strikeouts. 

Senior Kailynn Kruep scored 49 runs which put her second in the SLIAC. She was second on the Beavers with 47 hits and batted .343 on the year along with nine doubles, a triple, and four home runs. Her 49 runs scored placed her second among all the SLIAC, plus 10th in hits.

Senior Zoe Mitchell had career highs with 38 hits, 3 triples, and a .339 batting average. She also added 23 runs batted in and scored 24 runs.

Freshman Kharma Giles and Addison Ruyle made immediate impacts during their debut season. Giles posted 39 hits, nine doubles, 24 RBI's, 23 runs, and batted .328. Ruyle notched 30 hits, was second on the team with 29 RBI's and finished the year with eight doubles, 20 runs, and a .306 average. The duo both finished their debut season with five home runs.

The 2026 season started with a split against Monmouth College in February. They then hosted Ripon College and Lawrence University which featured two more splits to start the year 3-3 before heading to Florida for their spring break trip. In Florida, despite some losses, they defeated Buena Vista University, William Peace University, North Central College, Dean College and Regis University to pick up six wins to move to 8-6 on the season.

Blackburn picked up big wins over Maranatha Baptist University and got their first SLIAC win in a split with Westminster College. The Beavers split with Lyon University before closing out the year on a 9-1 run in their final 10 games, beating Harris Stowe State University, Knox College, Eureka College, and Principia College in sweeps and a split with Mississippi University for Women to help make their third straight postseason appearance.

In the conference tournament, the Beavers defeated Webster University 5-0 to advance the SLIAC Semifinals.

It was the team's second straight season where they defeated Webster in postseason play to advance to the semifinals.